


Between the Two of Us

by Lecavayay



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, In a way, M/M, Meet-Cute, Soulmates, Tampa Bay Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 04:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7998448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecavayay/pseuds/Lecavayay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing is, of course, that Alex can’t stop thinking about that stupid business card. He’s been trying to sleep for a good four hours, watching the headlights of random cars scan across his ceiling and disappear. He dials his implants down and starts listening for them – there’s one with a bad muffler, another that’s almost out of gas, one with a belt that’s going to snap any day, squeaky breaks, a Prius (which isn’t as quiet as everyone thinks) –matching their sounds to their headlights that hum in the darkness.  </p><p> </p><p>  <i>What if I meet with him and he straps me to a table and starts poking me with needles?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [verbaeghe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verbaeghe/gifts).



> What is this? A coffee shop-mutant-soulmate AU? I don't even know. Shu's got a weird mutation. Either way, I do hope you like it mishey! :)

It’s the third time the guy has come into the shop this week. He’s tall and well put together with an embroidered white pocket square sticking out of his jacket. Alex sees him join the line as he pumps three shots of caramel into the coffee he’s making.  

“Order up for Vladdy!” he shouts, holding out the sweetened monstrosity to be collected.  

The guy in the suit watches him as he washes the blender, as if he might sprout tentacles or boil water with his laser vision. Use adamantium claws to steam the milk for his next order.  

“Can I help you?” Jason asks with a bright smile, snapping the guy’s focus to him.  

Alex was only about eighty-twenty on why the guy kept showing up, but as he barely moves his lips to order in the most pathetic, pandering whisper he just can’t take it anymore. 

“I’m not wearing my hearing aids today, man, you’re gonna have to speak up,” Alex shouts, shoving his way to the register.  

The guy smiles. “Your file said you had aggressive tendencies.” 

“There's a line, dude, what do you want?” 

Jason squeezes Alex’s arm, a quiet solidarity. A silent warning.  

“A meeting, won’t take long,” the guy says, pulling a glossy business card out of his suit coat and sliding it across the counter. He notices the logo on it matches the guy’s pocket square. Classy. “I’d love to see if you’re as amazing in person as you are on paper.”  

Alex snatches the card and shoves it into his apron pocket. “That sounds nice and all, but I’m not real into being looked at like an animal in a zoo. Hard pass. Next!”  

“You shouldn’t wear those things,” the guy says, indicating his ear. “Cripples you.”  

He really wishes he had laser vision.   

“Bro, you’re scaring the customers,” Jason says, barely loud enough for Alex to pick up with his suppressors in. “Go chill out in the back for a minute.” 

“I’m fine.”  

The bell over the door jingles peacefully as the guy exits back out onto the street.  

“Go sit in the office anyway.”  

 

The office is much cooler than the space behind the counter and Alex pulls off his apron before sitting on a pile of empty milk crates. He rubs at his eyes and down his face and decides to click his earbuds up to 10 – near perfect deafness.  

It's always been the quickest way to temper his moods, ever since he was little and the world was so loud and he was overwhelmed all the time. He didn't know what silence was until he got his implants and the doctors turned his ears off.  

It was bliss.  

Some days he wishes he could leave them like this and never hear anything ever again.  

He startles when Jason crouches into view, waving his hands. He's never gotten very good at reading lips and holds up a finger to him as he fiddles with the volume level. It's all too bright for a few seconds until his ears adjust.  

"You good?" 

"Sorry I fucked up." 

"Who was that guy?" Jason asks, pulling up his own milk crate to sit on.  

Alex reaches over and gets the guy's card out of his balled-up apron. "Mutant recruiter," he says, flicking it at Jason.  

"Jon Cooper," he reads. "Kinda sounds like a douche. You gonna meet with him?" 

"No thanks. I want nothing to do with his government-run super spy gang." 

"Sounds bad ass to me." 

"That's because you're not a freak." He cringes at his choice of word. "I didn't mean that."  

"You did. But I'm gonna let it pass because it’s not even eleven-thirty and you’ve already had a long day."  

Alex remembers what it felt like watching Jason stick up for his little sister when she started school and kids not any older than six cornered her and called her a freak just because her skin was pale green and her eyes sometimes flicked between brown and bright violet. He remembers being terrified that Jason would hate him because he could pass as perfectly human while Sam was ridiculed. Even as they lived in a world that praised tolerance.  

He knows Jason would have switched lots with her without question.  

“You should meet with him.” 

“No,” Alex says, firm in his decision. 

“Look, you were always the one who wanted to get out of this place and this could be your chance. You don’t have to agree to anything but you could at least hear him out.” Jason sets the business card on the desk. “He obviously sees something in you.” 

“He should get his eyes checked,” he says, grabbing his apron and heading back toward the counter.  

 

The thing is, of course, that Alex can’t stop thinking about that stupid business card. He’s been trying to sleep for a good four hours, watching the headlights of random cars scan across his ceiling and disappear. He dials his implants down and starts listening for them – there’s one with a bad muffler, another that’s almost out of gas, one with a belt that’s going to snap any day, squeaky breaks, a Prius (which isn’t as quiet as everyone thinks) –matching their sounds to their headlights that hum in the darkness.  

 _What if I meet with him and he straps me to a table and starts poking me with needles?_  

It’s well after 2am. Jason’s probably asleep.  

 _I thought he was with the good guys. Go to sleep._  

He’d looked up Jon Cooper when he got home from the coffee shop that afternoon. Annoyingly, he was third-generation X-Men recently retired to become a recruiter. As good as good can get.  

 _Okay but like I’m not that great. I’ve only got a radius of 3 mi and then everything gets muddled, 5 if it’s super quiet. I’d have to be in the line of fire to eavesdrop on anyone important. This shit isn’t a joke!_  

Jason’s reply is quick. _It’s just an initial meeting._  

 _And you like danger._  

 _Go to sleep._  

Alex huffs and stuffs his phone under his pillow. Of course, Jason’s not wrong. 

 

Cooper sets the meeting for that next Saturday at the agency in DC, a plane ticket magically appearing in Alex’s inbox not twenty minutes later. It’s only a little over two hours away from Tampa like that but he still begs Jason to come with him.  

“Someone has to run this place while you’re off becoming an X-Man.” 

“I’m not joining the X-Men,” he says, cleaning out the coffee grinder.  

“Sam thinks you’re gonna join the X-Men.” 

“ _She_ should come with me. They’d like her a lot more.” 

“They’d like her personality a lot more. But being a literal mermaid isn’t a super helpful mutation for fighting crime.”  

Alex starts working on the cappuccino machine. He knows someone like Jon Cooper visited the Garrison house when Sam was little, offering to put her in school with other kids like her, other mutants that couldn’t pass as human. He knows they considered it but thought she’d be happier close to the water. It wasn’t any of Alex’s business really, but he thinks Sam would’ve been amazing if she’d gotten out of White Rock.  

“I bet they could find something for her to do. Some kind of mutant Navy.” 

“Bro,” Jason says, smiling. “I know you’ve adopted her as your own baby sister, but Sam’s fine. She’s happy. With a degree in marine biology and a perfectly legitimate excuse to be in the water all the damn time. She’s good.”  

“I know, I just…” 

“You don't think about yourself,” he says, stopping his work to come over and grip both of Alex’s shoulders tightly. “But now is your time to _shine_. You’re going to go to DC and show them all your beautiful ears and they’re going to offer you a place with them doing something great.”  

He swallows and waits a breath just be sure Jason’s done. “Your overwhelming optimism is freaking me out.” 

“I know.” 

“Okay.” 

Eventually Jason gives him a little shake and goes back to counting the cash in the register. That’s that, Alex supposes. He’s going to DC and he’s going to…shine. Or something. 

 

DC is a lot.  

Like, Alex has been to big cities. He’s seen some of the world outside of his hometown, outside of Tampa. But DC isn’t anything like what he saw. It's modern, with its buildings and traffic and technology, and sitting on a bench in front of the Coalition for Mutant Equality he feels old. Basic.  

The bell of a nearby church rings and he loosens the tie around his neck, pops the first button of his shirt. And then another. The bell finishes and he pulls the whole tie off and stuffs it in his pocket, taking the steps up to the CME two at a time. 

 

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Alexander," Steve freaking Yzerman says, holding his weathered hand out for Alex to shake. "We've been waiting for you for a long time." 

He tries to play it cool but he's shaking hands with the guy he looked up to as a tiny mutant child. The guy who literally helped take down the Brotherhood when he was barely old enough to be fighting. He's shaking hands with one of the most powerful mutants in the world.  

He feels very small. Even if Yzerman is the one in a wheelchair.  

"I'm sure you have many questions for us, but I think you might like a tour of the facility first. So you can see a little bit of what we do here behind closed doors."  

Alex knows he's given his thrill of excitement away when Cooper claps him on the back with a smile. "You're gonna love it, kid." 

 

Through a locked door and a set of fingerprint and retina scanners, Alex follows Yzerman and Cooper through a maze of sterile white hallways that eventually spill out into a flurry of action. Pairs of men and women in plain grey t-shirts are scattered across bright blue mats, struggling against each other in hand-to-hand combat.  

"We have a state of the art training facility here," Yzerman explains. "Mostly for our recruiters and high security clearance agents who work in the DC area. The Mansion also has a robust facility for training those just starting out as well as those still in school."  

Alex knows he's talking about the school in New York, the one the recruiters wanted Sam to go to with other mutants her own age. And like, he knew all of this was real, that it wasn't just a bedtime story parents told their weird kids to make them feel normal, but it's different to suddenly see it with his own two eyes. To hear it straight from _Professor Y's_ mouth.  

He feels like he should be texting Jason a play-by-play.  

"Some of our best agents work here," Yzerman continues, leading them closer to the scrums. "I'd like you to meet them."  

Upon closer inspection, Alex can name almost everyone in the room, even sweaty and worn out from training. Most agents don't go by code names like the original X-men anymore but the Silver Bullet was notorious well before he joined the team.  

"Steven Stamkos," he says, pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Welcome to DC." 

He'd been practicing with another recognizable guy, long scar slicing through the left side of his face and up through a milky white eye. "Cally."  

Alex doesn't know what to do with himself until they all get distracted by a loud thump to their left and a string of expletives.  

"Get the fuck off me you stretchy monster," a woman shouts, shoving at her partner who has her pinned.  

From behind Alex couldn't be sure who they were, but as the guy stands to full height it can't be anyone other tha-- 

"Ben Bishop," he says with a bright smile. "Bish. Welcome." 

"Hi," Alex replies lamely. 

"Manon," the woman says before jabbing her finger back at Bish. "And we're going again, Benjamin, don't think you're getting out of this because of a tour." 

"Slave driver, this one," Bish says, laughing at the sour look on Manon's face.  

"I'll tag along though," Stamkos says. "You're going by the labs, yeah?"  

 

The entire science wing blows Alex's mind.  

He's equal parts intrigued and terrified, wanting to reach out and touch everything they walk past, Cooper right behind him to make sure he keeps up. There are balls of light and vials of light blue liquid bubbling under green flames and people in white lab coats watching a case of something make its way through a very expensive-looking machine.  

"What are they working on?" 

"Nothing exciting," Stamkos says, slapping his palm on the scanner near a set of double doors. "The cool stuff is through here."  

"The Coalition is very visible through the work we do with the government: stopping large-scale crime and gathering mutant intelligence," Yzerman says, rolling to a stop near a pair of scientists working on something very, very small. "What you don't see is all of the advancements in mutant technology and adaptation, which is much more important."  

"The Triplets have been working on an integrated learning device," Stamkos says, indicating the scientists who are still ignoring them. "It's a little chip you can implant right behind the ear that increases skill acquisition by 400-percent." 

"Like...the Matrix?" Alex asks.  

The shorter scientist perks up, sliding his lab goggles into his hair. "Yeah! Just like the Matrix. That's actually where we got the idea from. And then Coop found this awesome dude with an innate ability similar to what we're going for and his DNA has jumped the process like, five years ahead. It already works in mice and last week we taught a rabb--." 

"Shhh." His scientist friend cuts him off, knocking his lab goggles back onto his face. "They don't care. I need you to look at the cell structure of this." 

"Eighteen doesn't like distractions," Stamkos stage whispers as they leave the pair of them in peace.  

"We also have a division that works on mutant enhancements," Yzerman says as they head toward a different section of the building. "The suppressors you wear came from this very lab." 

Alex automatically reaches for his ears, aborting the movement halfway.  

"We're continuing to upgrade the technology in hopes of giving you more internal control." 

"You're...you're working on upgrades? But these work just fine. Are there other people with my mutation?"  

"Similar but never the same," Cooper says in a way that makes it sound like an often repeated quote.  

They pass a very tall scientist who seems to be in a heated debate with a Russian. Alex happens to catch his eye and smiles, a creature of habit after years working at a coffee shop.  

He startles when the scientist stops dead in his tracks and says hello, his companion carrying on alone, muttering about electrodes or something.  

"Hi." 

"Oh wait, shit," Stamkos says, circling back to where Alex had stopped walking. "Is it happening? Shu? Is it happening?"  

"I don't...um." 

"Is what happening?" Alex asks, trying to keep the budding panic out of his voice.  

"With him?" Stamkos asks.  

"I think...yes," Shu says, swallowing. "It's happening." 

"What is happening!"  

Stamkos is beaming, bright smile spread across his face. "Shu gets very connected to people," he explains. "Like pieces of him actually merge with other people, it's amazing. KUCH, GRAB A DUSTER. STAT!"  

The Russian from before dashes toward a locked cupboard.  

"A-any people?" Alex asks, not 100-percent sure what Stamkos means by _pieces of him_. "Like, it happens all the time?" 

"Once," Shu says. "My whole life."  

"Twice now," Stamkos amends. "Only with a perfect match." 

"I don't u-understand." 

"You're witnessing a rare phenomenon, Alexander," Yzerman says, joining them. "In a way, it's what many people call...soulmates." 

" _What_?!" 

"I'm sorry," Shu says, looking every letter of the word. "I don't...I didn't know it would ever happen again. I swear I didn't." 

Kuch arrives with what Alex assumes is a "duster" and someone dims the lights enough that they can all see iridescent particles passing between them – both glowing the same shade of blue in the light put out by the duster.  

"I'm going to pass out." 

 

Alex comes to in a softly lit room with walls lined in books and oddly shaped knickknacks. He doesn't recognize anything he can see except a flag he's pretty sure belongs to an Eastern European country.  

"You're awake." 

"Oh fuck, you scared me," he shouts, clutching his chest like a damsel.  

"I'm sorry. I, uh, I...I'm not doing this correctly." 

"Please tell me I dreamed the part where little blue bits of my body were crossing time and space to get into your body." 

"Um...no. No, that was real." 

What the fuck. "What the fuck." 

"It's not permanent unless there's skin contact." 

Alex nearly jumps across the bed away from Shu, tucking his knees under his chin. "Okay, so don't touch me. How long before it...disengages, or whatever?" 

 _I don't know_  

"Jesus Christ," Alex shouts, clutching at his ears. "What did you just do?" 

Shu had reached for him, just barely holding back. "The bond, um, when I bond with someone there's telepathic transfer. I'm sorry. I didn't think about your elevated auditory response, I can whisper next time." 

"We're psychics right now." 

"The proper term is telepaths." 

"Okay. Telepaths. But only with each other." 

"I've been working on expanding my ability to non-bondmates but it's been difficult."  

Alex is just going to assume that's a yes. "What else can we do?" 

"Um, we can...in theory, we'd eventually be able to body jump. Or at least I would. I don't think you could ever initiate it. My last bondmate never could." 

He's not sure his eyes could be any bigger.  

"Once when I was very scared, I actually teleported to where my bondmate was. But that was only once. And I was much younger." 

"Okay." This is not at all what he wanted when he came here. He's never listening to Jason ever again. "I should probably just...go home." 

"If that's what you think is best."  

"Dude, don't look so sad about it. I'm sure someone else much better suited to all this is going to come by and you'll forget your little blue things ever wanted a part of this." 

Shu, if possible, looks even sadder.  

"Look, I live in Florida with my best friend, running a coffee shop. I'm not...I'm not an X-man. No matter what Jon Cooper and Professor Y see in me. I'm just not." 

"Most people don't think they're suited for this kind of work. Even when they are." 

"Is this when you look into my mind and find my True Potential?" 

"If only this was a movie or a romance novel," Shu scoffs. 

Alex smiles. "You read a lot of those?" 

Shu stands and heads for the door. "I'm not going to ask you to stay," he says. "But we could do some great work together." 

 

Alex goes back to Tampa and lays in his bed until Jason tries to break down his front door. Then he lays in bed until Jason runs out of words and inspiring quotes. He goes back to work and finds himself hoping that Jon Cooper with his stupid pocket square would walk back in and hand him another business card.  

Then he books himself a flight back to DC and lays in bed until he has to be at the airport.  

 

"Ah, Mr. Killorn," the secretary at the Coalition says. "Professor Y was expecting you back." 

"Uh, how did you..." 

"Psychic," she says, tapping her temple.  

"I thought the proper term was telepath." 

"It is if yo--." 

"You came back." 

Alex turns to face Shu, who looks shocked from head to toe. He breathes in deeply and exhales slowly as he steps closer to his bondmate, holding out his hand.  

"I'm Alex," he says. "It's nice to meet you." 

 _You sure_ _?_  Shu whispers into his mind.  

 _Why not._   _I've been told I like a little danger in my life._

"Andrej," he says, taking Alex's hand. "It's nice to meet you as well." 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Alex wakes up the next morning in a very large bed with a soft ringing in his left ear.

He stretches out under the covers, pressing his palms flat against the ornate headboard and pointing his toes. His calf immediately cramps and he rolls to his feet in agony, attempting to walk it off. He must be dehydrated.

_Are you okay?_

Oh right. Shu. Andrej. _Uh, I'm fine? Just a charlie horse._

_Eat a banana._

He's not a hundred-percent where the kitchen is or if said kitchen would even have bananas. The tightness in his muscle is not fading as quickly as he would like, either way. Son of a bitch.

He's still gingerly pacing around the room when there's a knock on a part of the wall that is not the door.

"Um, hello?" He grips the edge of the mattress and tries to stretch out his calf again. This is the worst.

"Can I come in?" Shu's muffled voice asks.

"Yes?"

Something clicks and then the bookcase is swinging open to reveal Shu's tall, slender form. He's carrying a pile of books and a banana. "You seem to be in a bad state. So I brought you your first lesson."

"I don't even get breakfast first?"

Shu points his nose at the banana.

"Am I going on a diet?" he scoffs.

Shu pushes on. "It's important you understand everything. What your commitment means. What we do here. How you’ll fit in."

"Yeah, yeah." He takes the books and sets them on the small writing desk situated in front of a window that overlooks the small courtyard in the middle of the compound. "Should I take notes?"

"It's not required."

"Okay."

They fall silent, standing across the room from each other. Shu stuffs his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "Does your ear always ring like this in the morning?"

Alex had forgotten about the noise entirely. "No, uh, not usually."

"It must be the pure silence of the room. We put you in one that's fully insulated from outside noises. That might not've been the right choice if your ears are trying to pick up the sound of something that isn't there."

"Or someone could've turned on a TV in the near vicinity."

Shu hums. "That could be it."

“I didn’t realize that you’d, uh, be so connected to me?” he says, wiggling his finger in his buzzing ear before dialing up his implants. “All the time.”

“Shutting that down will be the first thing we work on. After you read.”

“Oh. That’s good.” Alex doesn’t know why he feels disappointed. “Does that go for my thoughts too? Are you in my head all the time right now?”

“No. Unless it’s something very…loud. Like your wide variety of swear words this morning.”

“My bad.”

They fall on awkward silence again until Shu nods to himself and heads for the bookcase.

“I’ve got to get to the labs. But, uh, if you need anything just let me know.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

Shu shrugs and points at the banana. “Eat your breakfast.”

Alex picks it up and cracks the peel.

//

That’s how it goes for weeks – wake up, remember he can talk to someone with his mind, say good morning, eat breakfast, and read. There’s a lot of reading. And understanding. And silent conversations with Shu.

He signed some paperwork a few days ago that allowed him to start physical training. Which is so much more amazing compared to the reading.

“You think you’ll be a field agent, then?” Steven-call-me-Stammer asks, flashing his abs to wipe his face off with the bottom of his shirt.

Alex is bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “I think that’s, uh, that’s what Shu’s…leaning towards. Shit. That was a workout.”

Stammer slaps him on the back. “It’s just the beginning.”

That’s what everyone’s been telling him. That all this craziness and learning and figuring stuff out only gets crazier. That what he knows and has seen is only the tip of the mutant iceberg. It’s nuts.

“This is nuts.”

Stammer smiles. “Nuts but awesome. Go ahead and hit the showers, I know you’ve got lessons with Shu in the afternoon.”

He checks the clock and is pretty sure he’s gonna be late. “Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around.”

There’s a little part of his brain that’s still super giddy at the fact that he’s working out with the Silver Bullet. He’s been trying really hard to keep it quiet and well hidden from Shu, not sure how loud something has to be to transfer just yet.

_Please tell me you don’t have a crush on Stammer._

God damn it. _He’s a superhero, okay? Cut me some slack._

_You’re going to be a superhero._

Alex turns on the shower and strips out of his sweaty shirt. _I’m not going to be the Silver Bullet._

_You’re right. We’ll come up with a better name._

He laughs to himself and checks the water temperature.

 _The Mighty Ear,_ Shu comes back with. _Dumbo. Van Gogh._

Alex shoves down the little flutter of fondness he feels for his idiot bondmate. _Van Gogh cut off his ear. You’re not funny._

_I’m hilarious._

_Leave me alone, I’m naked._

He doesn’t get a verbal response after that, just something that feels kind of warm and pink. If thoughts could be a color. He wonders if it’s the way Shu’s cheeks feel when he’s embarrassed.

It’s kind of cute. Huh.

//

“You’re late,” Shu scolds, not looking up from his microscope.

“I’m always late.”

“You should tell Stammer to let you leave earlier.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to annoy you.”

Shu narrows his eyes. “Is that your goal?”

“Sometimes.” He sits down at an empty lab table and leans back in his chair, arms behind his head. _You’re cute when you’re angry._

Shu sputters and crosses his arms. _Abuse of mental privileges._

Here’s the thing, though. What Alex has been doing has been undeniably flirting for a solid week now. They’ve started trying to connect more, get to know each other and expand the bond, and the more they do that, the more Alex wants to run his thumb along Shu’s cheekbone or wake up closer to him or like, put his lips on his face.

Jason thought it was probably normal to get feelings for the dude you were mind-melded to and immediately asked for Shu’s phone number so he could give him The Talk.

Alex had hung up on him.

_You like it._

He’s gotten good at shutting Shu out when he wants to, worked up to almost as much precision as Shu has. But three nights ago Alex woke up from a dead sleep gasping, so turned on he couldn’t think straight. His mind was a warm haze of pink embarrassment that day. It was the best Tuesday he’s ever had.

“I can’t believe my mutation would pick such an obnoxious person to bond with,” Shu says and Alex knows he doesn’t mean it.

“Mutation knows best.”

“Sometimes I wonder.” He makes a few notes in his book and slips the specimen slide from the microscope. “I, uh, I actually wanted to talk to you about that today. Our lesson.”

“Huh?”

“My mutation. I’ve bonded with someone before.”

“Right.” He knew that. Everyone knew that.

“You’ve never asked who it was.”

He hadn’t. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed. “Was I supposed to?”

“You could have.” Shu sits across from him at the table.

“Okay. But, uh, it’s not like I’m going to know them, right? I’m not going to have to worry about someone swooping in and taking you away from me?”

“No. You, uh, it’s just you. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Something small that had clenched up in his chest loosens. “So I don’t care who it was. It’s me now. And we’re gonna be awesome together.”

“He left me,” Shu blurts. “His parents made him forcibly sever the bond when they moved away. I followed him to the States a year later, once I had graduated, but he’d become…hateful. He resented me for still having a mutation when he didn’t anymore. Without me, he was human.”

“What a fucking _dick_.” Alex is pretty sure he could punch through a wall right now, could punch this ex-bondmate right in his stupid fucking face. 

“I loved him. With all my heart.” Shu’s cheeks pink up just a little but Alex doesn’t feel the warmth in his head this time. This time, Shu’s actively blocking him. “I know I shouldn’t have but it was so easy. He didn’t love me back, not the way I did. And I’m telling you this because it’s easy to think you love someone when you’re in each other’s heads. It’s so, so easy.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Are you saying…look, I _chose_ to bond with you. I chose this. I left and thought about it and came back. I’m in this.”

Shu sighs, heavily. He let’s all the air out of his lungs and curls in on himself a little, folds and unfolds his hands in his lap. “I was worried, in the beginning, that you wouldn’t stay. I was. But that’s not my worry anymore.”

“Then what’s…is it the flirting? Shit. I’ll stop. I’m sorry. I was just, I dunno, I like you. I do.”

“Like I said, it’s easy to fall in love. Or in lust. And I’m…sensitive to that.” He bites at his lip, eyes cast downward. He keeps getting smaller and Alex hates it.

“I don’t want to hurt you. Not ever. Like, you’re my closest friend here. I know more about you than I know about half of my friends back home and I’ve known you for a fraction as long as I’ve known them. And there’s still probably so much I don’t know but that’s okay. There’s more time to learn that.”

Shu nods and straightens a bit.

“And I want to know everything about you,” Alex pushes on, determined now. “Because I like you. Not just because you gave me something no one else gets to have. But because you blush when you’re embarrassed and don’t like pickles and bite at your fingernails when you’re deep in thought. You’re nice and thoughtful and look out for everyone else before you look out for yourself. You try _so hard_ all the time. You’re brilliant and your front teeth got knocked out when you were a kid and your mom paid to get you fake ones and sometimes your laugh is like, the worst thing I’ve ever heard but it’s amazing.”

Shu looks at him with eyes wide and so very, very blue. “You’re so much kinder than he was.”

“I mean, I’m a dick sometimes too. Don’t get excited.”

“It’s part of your charm.”

He doesn’t miss the little smirk curling at the corner of Shu’s lips. “I’m charming, eh?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“I’m sorry the first guy you fell in love with was an asshole.”

Shu shrugs, standing up from the table and heading back to his microscope. “Maybe the second one will be better.”

_You bet your ass he will._

Alex wants to roll around in the warmth of Shu’s blush, humming soft and pink through their connection.  


End file.
